


The Raven and the Hawk

by invisame



Series: My MCU [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-11-13 04:36:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18024806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisame/pseuds/invisame
Summary: Raven Sterling is an assassin for hire that never misses. Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, is an agent for SHIELD. They have every reason to hate each other but when Raven joins the shady government agency, sparks fly. Can they overcome their differences without killing each other along the way?





	1. Chapter 1

The assassin tracked the archer through the high-powered scope of her rifle. He was perched on the edge of a rooftop three thousand yards away waiting on his own target. His dark hair blew in the moderate wind and his sunglass covered eyes scanned the street. His bow was in his hand, arrow nocked but not drawn. He was poised and ready but not tense. Everything about him screamed professional.

“Hello, Agent Barton,” she whispered then started to hum a little tune. Rolling onto her side she reached in the pouch at her waist pulling out one of two bullets within. She held it up and turned it in the light. ‘Barton’ was engraved in capital letters on the casing.

The corner of her mouth quirked up in a smile as she leaked a little power into the bullet. Just enough to make it glow, to help it fly true. She continued to hum as she loaded her rifle. She wasn’t sure why her employer wanted the marksman dead, or how they knew he’d be here on his own assignment, but she really didn’t care. They had deposited a very large sum of money in her bank to ensure Agent Clint Barton of SHIELD didn’t survive the day. She’d done her research on the target and now she was here to finish the job the way it needed to be done.

She found the agent in her scope again and just kept him in her sights. He had his own job to do and she didn’t wish to interfere. Before long, the archer released two arrows in quick succession then stepped away from the edge of the roof. The assassin adjusted her grip, fixed her aim and fired. A moment later Barton twisted and fell.

She continued to watch as a woman with blazing red hair joined him on the roof. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. The assassin grinned at her good fortune. She had a contract for the Widow as well. She slipped her hand into the pouch at her side and drew the only other bullet from inside. Quickly she loaded the weapon with the bullet marked for the red-head and took aim once more.

Romanoff had a hand pressed against her partner’s wound and the other pressed against the communicator in her ear. SHIELD agents combed all the nearby rooftops but they wouldn’t find the assassin. She was too far away. It was an impossible shot really. But not for her. She never missed. She aimed and fired on the red-head, smiling when she joined her partner on the roof.

***

Three Years Later

Raven Sterling sat in a dark corner of a café sipping her coffee and watching a video on her phone. It was surveillance from one of her many apartments. Two days ago, someone had broken in searching for her. But like most of the properties she owned, she was never there. It was simply a front, somewhere for people to go looking. When they broke in, it activated the cameras. This time she recognized the intruder. Agent Clint Barton of SHIELD.

He’d gotten into her apartment with little effort, which was impressive in its own right, but that wasn’t what really grasped her attention. She watched his figure move across the screen on her phone to a desk on the far side of the room. He jotted something on a piece of paper and glanced around the room. Then he headed straight for the camera and held the paper in front of the lens.

_Thursday. Blue Moon Café. New York. 10 am._

That was a first. So here she was on Thursday morning, sipping coffee, nibbling on a chocolate chip muffin and waiting on the agent. She glanced out the front window to see him still leaning against the building across the street watching the café. He’d been out there for half an hour. Unfortunately for him, she’d gotten here well before him, so he was wasting his time. She glanced at her watch. Ten minutes to ten. He should be coming in before long.

Almost as if on cue, he straightened and jogged across the street, heading for the café. He opened the door and looked around until his eyes fell on her. He gave a nod then headed to the counter to order a drink. She slipped her phone into her pocket and leaned back in her chair to study him. To anyone who didn’t know who he was, he looked normal, unremarkable perhaps if you were to ignore his rugged appeal. He wore faded jeans with combat boots. His worn t-shirt was covered with a light weight flannel.

But that wasn’t all Raven saw. She saw the lean muscle on his frame, the way he kept his weight on the balls of his feet, ready to dodge at a moment’s notice. She saw the way his eyes never stopped moving, and how he used reflections to watch the activity behind him. Finally, he joined her at the table, taking the only other chair that allowed him to have his back to a wall.

“Ms. Sterling,” he said with a nod.

“It’s Raven. Just Raven,” she corrected automatically. She could tell her crisp English accent surprised him.

His dark eyes studied her as he took a drink of his coffee. “All right then.”

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“I am—

She held up a hand to cut him off. “I know who you are Agent Barton. I simply don’t understand why you are here? I assume Fury sent you? I’ve already turned him down twice.”

***

Irritation flowed through Clint. Damn Fury. What was he up to this time? “He chose not to share that information with me.” He did his best to keep his feelings from his voice but he failed miserably if the smirk the woman gave him was any indication.

Fury had shown him a picture when he gave Clint the assignment but it didn’t do the woman justice. She had long dark hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her eyes were some sort of hazel/amber mix and her features were delicate. Everything about the woman said she’d be more at home shopping on Fifth Avenue than joining SHIELD. Clint didn’t even know why Fury was interested in her. And he sure as hell never mentioned the accent. Like that wasn’t a big identifier. Damn Fury.

“I wasn’t sure you were going to show up,” he said after a beat.

She shrugged one shoulder. “You intrigued me. It’s not often someone breaks into my apartment to get a message to me. In fact, I’d say that was a first.”

It was his turn to shrug. “Fury told me not to waste time. He said you wouldn’t be found unless you wanted to be. He told me to get creative.”

“Well, he is correct that you wouldn’t have been able to find me unless I wished it.” She pursed her lips as she ran her eyes over him. He resisted the urge to shift under her gaze. “On the other hand…. You just might have accomplished it. Regardless, this is faster.”

Clint leaned back in his chair and tapped one finger on the table as he watched this woman. The more he studied her, the more he saw the things hidden behind the polished persona. Her hands were perfectly steady with no indication of nervousness and while the nails were painted, she kept them short. Both feet were flat on the floor and her chair was far enough from the wall that she could rise in a hurry if needed. Her stylish jacket was just a loose enough cut to easily hide a holster. But it was her eyes that convinced him that there was more to this woman than there seemed. They never stopped moving. Even though she appeared to be looking at him, he could see the subtle twitching of the iris that indicated she was taking in the entire café.

Clint reached into the front pocket of his shirt and pulled out a business card. He placed it on the table and slid it across to her with one finger. “Fury wants to meet you at that address. Tomorrow at fourteen hundred. Give the desk your name and they’ll direct you.”

She drained the last of her coffee. “And if I don’t go?”

“Not my problem. I delivered the message. My job is done. Go or not, it’s your choice.”

With a nod, she stood swiftly from the table and moved toward the door. Part way there she stopped and looked back at him. “Your boss, did he tell you anything about me?”

He shook his head.

A smile spread across her face. “Well, this will be fun.”

***

Around noon, Raven arrived at the building across the street from where her meeting was to take place. She made quick work of finding her way to the roof and settled in to do some reconnaissance. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust SHIELD and their intentions, well, if she were honest that was exactly the problem. But then, she didn’t trust anyone.

It was her own fault she ended up on Nick Fury’s radar in the first place.  Several years ago she’d been given a contract to assassinate the Director of SHIELD. Rather than completing her task, she had followed Nick Fury until she had the opportunity to give him a message. She simply walked past him and placed the bullet with his name on it on the table in front of him. It was a warning that he took to heart, going underground until the person that initiated the contract had been dealt with.

Shortly after that, he attempted to recruit her for the first time. The second had been after she shot Agents Barton and Romanoff. Apparently Fury found her not killing himself and his agents an indication she wished to join SHIELD. Raven shook her head and looked through her scope at the building across from her again watching until she saw the familiar bald head of Nick Fury. Agents Romanoff and Barton followed him into the room and all three sat at the table in the middle of the room.

Another man followed behind dressed in a dark suit. He stood against the wall, hands clasped in front of him. He looked relatively non-threatening but if he was in that room with Fury and the others, there was more to him than what she could see. Raven pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed the phone number on the card Barton gave her the day before.

“Fury,” the director answered. Raven watched him through the scope as she talked to him.

“Hello, Director.” Raven all but purred the words. She smiled as Fury sat up straight in his seat and placed his phone on the table in front of him. She assumed he had put it on speaker so they could all hear.

“Ms. Sterling. I trust you are on your way to our meeting.”

Raven shrugged though she knew the man couldn’t see it. “Perhaps. Might I ask you a question, Fury?”

“It’s not as if I can stop you, Sterling.”

“Who is the man in the suit?”

Romanoff and Barton went from looking bored to full attention in seconds. Their gazes darted to the window as they searched for the threat, for her. The agent in question merely frowned. Nick Fury however looked completely relaxed.

“His name is Agent Coulson.”

“Hello, Agent Coulson,” Raven said and the man turned to the window and nodded a greeting. “Should I be expecting anyone else to join us?”

“No, Sterling. Just us. Now, will you be arriving sometime this afternoon?”

“Keep your trousers on, Fury. I’ll be there shortly.” Raven slipped the scope into the pocket of her coat. She made her way to the building across the street. Agent Coulson stood by the front desk waiting for her arrival.

“Agent Coulson,” she said with a smile. “Did Fury not trust me to make my way to the room by myself?”

“Something like that, Ms. Sterling. If you’ll follow me.” The corner of the agent’s mouth twitched slightly as if trying not to smile. He turned and headed to the elevators. She trailed behind, hands in her pockets as she examined the building around them. They stepped into the middle of the elevator and the agent pressed the button for the floor. He glanced at her as the box began to move. “How many?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” Her brow furrowed in confusion.

“How many escape routes have you found so far?” His lips twitched but he didn’t look at her.

Seven. “With or without casualties?”

He glanced at her then, as if taking her measure. “Without.”

“Three.”

He nodded and stepped out as the doors opened. She followed him into the conference room. “Agents. Director,” she greeted as she stepped past them all and moved to the large windows. She made quick work of shutting the blinds and keeping anyone outside from being able to see in.

Fury snorted as she turned and took a seat across from Barton and Romanoff. “I was enjoying the sunshine, Sterling. Besides, no one but you would even think of taking that shot.”

“Your kind doesn’t enjoy the sun, Fury. You thrive in deep, dark holes.” She waved a hand through the air as she spoke and she pretended not to see the amused expressions on the agents’ faces. “And I have lived this long precisely because of my paranoia. I don’t intend to start slacking now.”

Fury stared at her with his good eye. Apparently he didn’t find her amusing.

“So what’s your angle this time, Fury?” She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve already told you no twice.”

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he slid a file across the table to her. She flipped it open and scanned through the papers inside. Aliases, addresses, photos, everything she didn’t want anyone to know about her was inside. It was the three pages at the back of the file that chilled her blood. It was a list of targets she had been hired to eliminate and hadn’t, along with a list of the people that had hired her to make those kills. Even she didn’t know who her employers had been. Fury could be lying through his teeth and she would have no way to know.

“You bloody bastard.” She flipped the file closed and shoved it back across the table. Her eyes darted to the two agents on the other side of the table. Their reputations were well known. “Is that how he got you two to sign up? Join SHIELD or we expose you, let your enemies kill you?”

Romanoff turned to Fury, her eyebrows raised. “Is that what we’re doing now?”

“She’s an assassin Romanoff. She kills people for money,” Fury bit out, annoyed.

“I kill people who _deserve_ it for money, Director. Or did you forget that part?” Raven asked, starting to wish she had killed Fury all those years ago.

He let out a harsh laugh. “Ms. Sterling is the absolute worst kind of assassin. She only kills people that she thinks deserve it.”

“Then how do you keep getting hired?” Barton asked, joining the conversation.

She shrugged. “Because I never miss. And if they’re smart, they know not to hire me unless it’s my kind of target.” She raked a hand through her hair. “What do you need me for anyway? Don’t you have enough people that _want_ to work for you?”

“We’ve recently changed some of our thinking around here, Ms. Sterling,” Fury answered. “You can work for us and be an asset or you can be a liability. Either way, you aren’t walking out of here without making a decision. Make the wrong one and you aren’t walking out of here at all.”

Anger flared through Raven at his words. Wanker. “Is that how you inspire loyalty in your people? Threaten to eliminate them if they don’t do what you want?”

He pushed another file across the desk to her. She stared at him as she clenched her teeth and worked the muscle in her jaw. When she didn’t reach for the file, he shoved it at her again.

“Just open it, Sterling.”

With a sigh, she did as he said and froze. Clipped to the front of the folder was a picture of the man she had hunted for seven years. Simon. Her eyes darted up to Fury. “You know where he is?”

The corner of his mouth jerked up in a smirk. “Yes.”

She flipped through the rest of the file only to find no indication of where the man was currently hiding. Of course not. That would be too easy.

“Join us and you can go after him. Entirely sanctioned. You’ll even get back up. And we erase your past. No warrants, no bounties. We take care of it all.”

She ran her finger along the tabletop as she debated what to do. Bullying and blackmail didn’t sit well with her. On the other hand, she’d been looking for Simon for a long time and had been unable to find him even with her considerable resources. He was a prize too big for her to pass up. “How long?”

Fury smiled then, knowing he had her. “One year. You still want to leave after that, we’ll talk.”

“Fine.”

Coulson stepped forward with another file. He placed it in front of her and flipped it open before handing her a pen. Her eyes flicked down the contract as she read through it, not that it mattered. No court would actually enforce it. She signed her name with a sigh and slid it back to him.

The agent held out his hand and she shook it. “Welcome to SHIELD, Ms. Sterling.”

“Okay,” Barton said, drawing her attention. “You bullied her into it. Now, talk.”

Apparently, Fury hadn’t been willing to share information on her until she’d agreed to work for them. Interesting.

Fury punched a couple of buttons on the computer beside him and the screen on the wall behind him lit up with pictures and information about her life. It quickly switched to a slide show of her targets. They came up one at a time with their stats and ‘deceased’ stamped across their face. “Raven Sterling is one of the most sought after assassins in the world. She is proficient in any and all firearms and has broken every known record for sniper kills. As she said, she never misses.”

Suddenly Fury’s picture appeared on the screen behind him. ‘Contact made’ was stamped across his face. “Sterling was contracted to kill me five years ago and, rather than completing the contract, she warned me of the danger. That’s when she ended up on our radar.”

“So she saved your life and you’re repaying her by threatening to kill her. Only you, Fury,” Romanoff said with a shake of her head and Raven automatically liked her the more for it.

Fury’s dark eye moved from Raven to Romanoff. He pushed a button on the computer without looking and Romanoff and Barton’s profiles flashed up on the screen behind him, ‘injured’ stamped across both of their pictures.

Barton leaned forward. “Wait. Are you saying…?”

“Sterling has a very interesting signature. She engraves the name of her target on the side of the bullet she shoots them with.” Fury leaned back in his seat, pursing his lips and steepling his fingers.

Barton braced his hands on the table and pushed himself to his feet. “That was you?”

Raven leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest.

“I guess you missed at least twice,” Romanoff said with a small smile.

“I never miss, Agent Romanoff.”

Barton dropped back into his chair. “Well, we’re still alive so evidently you do.”

“I hit exactly what I intended to that day, Agent,” she snapped. “Fury’s smart enough to hide when warned someone wants him dead. You two…well, you wouldn’t head underground would you? No, you’d keep hunting for them and get yourselves killed in the process. So, I put you out of commission, however briefly, and Fury eliminated the threat. You’re welcome, Agents.”

“You seriously want us to thank you for shooting us? Are you nuts?” Barton asked.

Fury stood. “Agent Coulson will accompany you to collect your things, Sterling. You will be residing at one of our facilities until we determine you mean to uphold your word. I’ll see you tomorrow. Barton, Romanoff, let’s go.”

The two agents followed behind, Barton taking one last opportunity to glare at her over his shoulder. She shifted her gaze to Coulson as they left. “I believe I’m up to seventeen escape routes, Agent. Shall we go?”


	2. Chapter 2

It only took a few minutes for Raven to gather her belongings as she kept her bags ready to go at all times. She never knew when she would have to leave at a moment’s notice. After throwing a few more things into one of the duffels she was ready to go. She failed to hide her surprise as Coulson delivered her to an aircraft carrier of some sort. “This is…interesting.”

“You have no idea,” Coulson said with a little smirk as he led her through the halls.

Eventually he came to a stop before a door that looked just like every other door she’d passed. He scanned his badge and the door clicked open to reveal a sterile metal cube. A cot laid against one wall with an open toilet and sink on the wall opposite. A small desk and chair and a metal wardrobe were the only other things in the room. Raven arched a brow as she set her bags on the bed. It was all vaguely reminiscent of a high-end prison. “Cozy.”

Coulson observed her as she took in the small room. She slid open the desk drawer to find a variety of office supplies including a thick black marker. Taking the lid off, she walked over to the still open door. In the upper right corner she drew a small bird then tossed the marker back into the drawer. She stripped off her coat and threw it onto the bed with her bags.

“Defacing government property is a federal offense, Ms. Sterling.”

“Well, all the bloody doors look exactly the same. Tell Fury to buy some paint or something.” She shrugged and followed Coulson as he stepped away from the door and headed further down the hall, pointing out the communal showers along the way.

“They’re co-ed, but this is a women’s only hall so you shouldn’t have any issues.”

Raven merely nodded and followed the agent to the lift. He leaned forward and pressed a button before clasping his hands together in front of him once again. It seemed to be his standard rest pose. “Hungry?” he asked when the box stopped at the desired floor.

She nodded absently. “I could eat.”

“This is the mess hall,” he said as he walked into the large room at the end of a short hall. “There are standard meal times, but training schedules and assignment times vary so there is always something available. You have full access to the fridge and pantry at any time.”

He stepped forward and took a tray from the lady in the kitchen and handed it to Raven before taking his own. She held the red and tan pile at eye level and looked at it suspiciously. “Lasagna. Yum,” Coulson said with a twinkle in his eye.

***

Early the next morning Raven sat at a table in the corner of the mess hall sipping on a cup of passable black coffee. Passable in the sense it still had caffeine in it even if it tasted like poorly brewed dish water. Coulson stepped into the room and glanced around until he spotted her. He headed in her direction, grimacing when he saw the cup in her hands. He removed it from her grip and threw it into the nearest trashcan. “Sorry. I should have warned you about that.” He looked at his watch. “We’ve got time. Follow me.”

She followed him from the room and into the lift. He glanced at her as he pressed the button. “Preparing for an invasion, Ms. Sterling?”

Snorting in dismissal, she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back. “If Fury is inclined to leave me access to my weapons, it would be rude not to use them, don’t you think?” Raven knew she had gone overboard with the firearms as she wasn’t heading off on a mission or into battle, but the double strapped thigh holster on each leg and the ammunitions belt with several spare clips made her feel more comfortable. They stepped out of the lift onto a floor Raven wasn’t familiar with.  As she strode down the hall beside Coulson, she gave him a little shrug. “Besides, I could just as well have one of my rifles draped over a shoulder but I thought that a bit much.”

Coulson chuckled as he punched in a code on the pad next to the door with his name on it. “Come on in.”

She stepped into a sparsely furnished, clean office. Coulson immediately went to the coffeepot in the corner and poured some into a couple of travel cups. “Black?” He put the lid on one of the cups and handed it to her when she nodded.

She sipped and sighed as a smooth rich brew ran over her taste buds and down her throat. “You are my new favorite person, Coulson.”

He smirked. “First thing I bought for the office. Even before I picked out my chair. I’ll have requisitions get you set up in your room.”

Relief flowed through her. “Now I just might be in love with you.”

“Yeah, keep that in mind.” He stepped past her and back out into the hall. She followed behind, clutching her coffee cup like it contained liquid gold. “Our next stop is the lower level where you will be assessed before you are given official agent status.”

She arched a brow but said nothing as they got back onto the lift.

“Just remember when you’re pissed off later, all I did was show you the way. And I gave you coffee. That’s all I’m saying.”

***

“I just don’t understand why we have to be there.” Clint Barton stood in the hallway, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited for the elevator and talked to his best friend.

Natasha Romanoff mirrored his position as she shook her head. “As I’ve already told you, Fury indicated he wants us to work with her. It only makes sense that we be the ones to test her. It’s the only way we’ll trust her skills anyway. We both know that.”

Clint snorted. “As if I’m ever going to trust her. She shot us, Nat.”

“I haven’t forgotten, Barton, but it’s not like we don’t have our own pasts.”

He shook his head. “I can’t believe you.” He started to say something else but was cut off by the elevator’s arrival. The door slid open to reveal Raven Sterling laughing as she stood next to Coulson. His eyes narrowed as he took her in. The guns and ammo she had strapped to her didn’t really scream that she was going to be a team player. He stepped in as she moved to the side and he turned his back to her, crossing his arms over his chest as he braced his feet.

He heard a snicker from the English assassin and closed his eyes as he took a centering breath. She was already under his skin too much. He needed to get a lock on this. He dealt with Fury every damn day, he could deal with her.

“I don’t think Agent Barton likes it when I’m happy, Agent Coulson. Make a note; no smiling or laughter in the hawk’s presence.”

Clint clenched his teeth together as a snort of laughter came from Coulson’s direction. The agent quickly tried to cover it with a cough but he failed miserably. A glance out the corner of Clint’s eye showed Romanoff staring stoically at the wall in front of her. He knew her well enough to know she was fighting off a smile as well. Traitors. The elevator arrived at the training floor and he led the way off, ignoring them as they followed him down the hall. When he arrived at the designated room, he held the door open for Natasha, scowling at her when she waited for Sterling and Coulson to go in front of her. “Next time I’ll let the damn door slam in your face,” he hissed next to her ear as she passed.

“No, you won’t.” She smirked at him over her shoulder.

Fury awaited them in the middle of the room. To one side was a target area. The other side held a sparring floor along with punching bags and a couple of treadmills. “Sterling. Agents. As Coulson no doubt informed you, you need to go through your testing today so we can get you official agent status.”

“Isn’t testing normally for people who _want_ to be agents? Shouldn’t I get to be an agent just by virtue of you bullying me into it?”

Fury didn’t bother to respond. “We’ll begin with target shooting. You shouldn’t have a problem with that, Sterling.”

Clint glanced over to see her rolling her eyes as she sipped her coffee. “This should take about five seconds,” she murmured.

Fury turned to Clint. “Think you can make this a challenge for her, Barton?”

He gave the director a lop-sided smile. “It would be my genuine pleasure, sir.”


	3. Chapter 3

Barton walked over to a panel along one side of the wall. He spent several minutes messing with it before turning and crossing his arms over his chest. A smug expression settled on his face. Raven watched him over the edge of her cup as she finished her coffee. The targets along the far side of the room swept backward and were swallowed into the wall behind them. The sparring ring lowered into the floor until it was as if it was never there. The treadmills slid into openings in the wall the hadn’t been there a moment ago.

What had previously been a decked-out training room was now one large, open space. Raven walked to the side of the room to toss her empty cup. She acted as if she was completely unimpressed but it wasn’t true. In fact, she could still hear mechanical noises and wondered what else was coming. As if the thought summoned them, more openings appeared both low and high on the walls and several automated dummies came out. She didn’t know what else to call them. Some flew through the air, others moved around the floor. Their movements appeared random and unprogrammed. A target emblazoned all of them, front and back.

All in all, it was impressive but Raven did her best not to let any of that show. What SHIELD didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. Arching a brow, she looked at the archer as the others moved out to the hallway. “So, what’s the challenge, Barton?”

"One shot per target. No more, No less. You with your guns, me with my bow.”

She shrugged and ran her eyes over the targets doing a quick count. Fifteen. Easy enough. Too easy. A smirk twisted her lips and she dropped her head to keep the man in front of her from seeing it. Placing her hands on both guns, she let a thread of power run through them, infusing the bullets. “Whenever you’re ready, Agent.”

He narrowed his eyes, clearly suspecting her of something. Instead of saying anything, he simply readied his bow and arrows.

***

“Can you play music on that thing?” Sterling asked suddenly, startling him.

Clint frowned but shrugged. Music wouldn’t hurt anything and would serve as another distraction for the woman. He walked back over to the screen and hit a couple of buttons until the low beat of a heavy metal track came over the speakers. Sterling nodded in either thanks or appreciation and Clint pushed another button to start the countdown.

He nocked his first arrow and waited for the countdown to arrive at zero. As soon as it did, he lifted the bow and fired. He focused on one target at a time, releasing his arrow and moving on to the next without waiting to see where it hit. It wouldn’t be anything but a bullseye, he knew that. He was too good at what he did to have it be otherwise.

Both of them finished quickly and Clint went over to the monitor and pressed the buttons to shut off the music and bring all the targets to the center of the floor where they could check them. One arrow stuck out of the center of all fifteen targets. He frowned, realizing that he saw no bullet holes.

The others came back into the room as Clint walked up to the targets. Natasha came over to join him. “I thought you said you never missed?” He couldn’t keep the cockiness out of his voice, though he tried.

“I don’t.”

He turned to look at her in disbelief. “There is not one bullet hole in any of those targets.”

She arched her brows and pursed her lips.

“Um…Clint,” Natasha said behind him, but he ignored her. He was tired of this stuck-up Brit that everyone seemed enamored with. He was going to make her admit that she wasn’t everything she claimed to be.

Striding over, he came to stop in front of her. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. “Is this a joke to you? I get that you think you’re better than everyone here, but you aren’t. Take this shit seriously or you’re going to get someone killed and I’m going to make damn sure it’s not me.”

The woman’s expression didn’t change and that only served to irritate him further.

“Barton,” Natasha bit out from behind him and he spun to turn his glare on her.

“What?” he snapped and Natasha arched a brow at his tone. Instead of answering, she turned the targets one at a time. Each target had one crisp bullet hole going right through the bullseye. That wasn’t even possible. How could she hit the back of a target when she shot from the other side?

He glanced back to Sterling. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she smirked at him. “You were saying, Agent Barton?”

The two of them just glared at each other for a long moment before Fury cleared his throat and stepped next to them. “Impressive, Sterling. Now it’s time to evaluate your hand-to-hand abilities.”

Sterling huffed a laugh. “I don’t need hand-to-hand, Fury. I shoot people from really far away and then run off before anyone can find me. I’m good at it. Why mess with a good thing?”

The director arched a brow at the uncooperative woman. “Whether you feel you need it or not is irrelevant. It is a requirement for you to become a field agent and it is a necessary skill for you to be on a team. Romanoff?”

Fury walked back out of the room, Coulson on his heels. Barton went over to reset the room so they could use the sparring ring.

***

Raven did not like having her time wasted and that’s all this was, an absolute waste of time. Irritation hummed along her skin making it feel tight and itchy. She still didn’t understand why she had to prove herself for a job she didn’t actually want. Rather than show any of that, she simply smiled and nodded her thanks when Agent Romanoff offered her the tape so she could wrap her knuckles.

The two women stepped into the sparring ring and Raven dropped into a defensive stance. She wanted to see how the agent moved, how she attacked. Romanoff came at her again and again and Raven blocked or dodged the blows but she didn’t attack. The other woman’s irritation was evident on her face. She lunged at Raven and did a throw that put her on her back on the mat. A smirk lit Romanoff’s features as she came forward to end the match. Raven mirrored it as she rocked back and scissor kicked the agent standing over her.

She’d caught the other woman by surprise and Romanoff went down. Raven pinned her to the mat. After a moment, she stood and offered her hand to the agent.

Romanoff sprang to her feet, a frown on her face. “I thought you said you didn’t know hand-to-hand.”

“I said I didn’t need it. I’d be stupid not to know it. Again?” Raven asked and Romanoff smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

The testing was finished in no time at all and Raven given official agent status. She smiled at Fury as he made the announcement. “In that case I suppose it’s time to show all of you what I can truly do.”

The other four shared a confused look between them before Fury gestured with one hand toward the rest of the room. “By all means, Sterling. Show us.”

“I need loose objects. Anything I can throw.” Fury and Coulson dug through their pockets as the other two agents were in uniform with nothing extra on them. Fury came up with nothing, but Coulson handed her a ball point pen and a handful of change. She nodded in thanks and moved over to the target shooting area. After laying the objects out in front of her, she removed one of the extra clips from her belt and slid several bullets out to add to the line.

Everyone came over to stand behind her so they could see what she was doing. “I’m a good shot. Always have been. But even the best marksman with the best weapon has limitations. I’m…something different.”

She stretched her hands over the objects laying before her and fed her magic into them, smiling as she watched them glow. No one else could see the golden sheen now bathing all the objects but they didn’t need to. She picked up the pen and wiggled it between her fingers. “Pick a target, Agent Coulson.”

“Excuse me?”

She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. “A target, Coulson.”

His eyes scanned over the paper targets at the far end of the range. “The third one from the left.” He crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels.

Turning back to the targets, she pictured her ultimate goal in her head. Pictured the pen piercing the middle of the target. She flicked the pen out of her fingers with little effort and watched it fly to the other end of the room. She picked up the bullets one by one and flung them toward the target as well. Finally, she nodded. “Agent Barton, if you don’t mind.”

He frowned but stepped forward and used the switch to bring the target toward them. She stepped back to allow the others a better view. There was a clear hole in the center of the target surrounded by a circle of several other holes where the bullets had penetrated.

“That’s some impressive shit there, Sterling. Mind sharing with the class how you accomplished that?” Fury stared her down with his one dark eye.

“I have one very specific ability. I can send projectiles wherever I wish them to go. That’s why I never miss.” She picked up a handful of change and tossed one coin at a time through the center of each target. “Guns are fast and reliable. I can usually get them to accomplish what I need them to without using my ability.”

They all stared at her without saying anything, obviously trying to process what she just revealed to them. She smiled, trying to break the tension. “It also means if I run out of bullets, I can just throw rocks at the bad guys. And be fairly effective doing it.”

“So, you’re a mutant,” Barton said, sounding smug.

It’s what she was. She knew that but the word brought back too many painful memories. Simon taunting and sneering at her while he tormented and tortured her. Realizing she’d been silent for too long, she cleared her throat. “Well, now you know. If you’ll excuse me.” With that she left the room.

***

“Ow.” Clint’s head shot forward from Natasha smacking the back of it. “What the hell?”

“Nice going, Barton.” Natasha scowled at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What did I do?”

Coulson cleared his throat. “I believe Agent Romanoff is attempting to convey her displeasure at the fact you called Agent Sterling a mutant.”

Clint shrugged. “That’s obviously what she is. I don’t understand what the big deal is.”

“It was also obvious she doesn’t share that with many people, Barton. You made her uncomfortable,” Natasha chastised.

He sighed. The last thing he wanted to be doing right now was getting a lecture from his best friend about how he treated the rookie. “So you want me to go apologize or what?”

“Don’t bother, Barton,” Fury chimed in. “She’s a smart woman. She’ll know you don’t mean it.”

***

Clint grumbled to himself as he sat picking at his dinner. Natasha had continued to give him shit for the rest of the day and quite frankly he was over it. And he didn’t really understand it. It wasn’t as if Sterling and Natasha were best friends or anything. There was no reason for Nat to get so upset over a supposed slight to some woman she barely knew.

A tray dropped on the table across from him and Clint glanced up surprised to find Sterling taking the seat opposite him. “Hello, Barton.”

“Sterling.”

She took a bite of her salad as she looked at him and he pretended his attention was focused elsewhere. “Today wasn’t about you,” she said finally, breaking the silence.

He frowned. “What?”

“Coulson said Natasha was giving you a hard time about the mutant thing. That’s on me, my issues. I told her that.” She didn’t look at him again as she continued to eat.

“I appreciate that,” he said after a moment. Maybe it was time to share some of his own issues. “I was supposed to get married that day.”

Her head shot up showing her furrowed brow. “What?”

He gave her a half smile. “The day you shot me. I was getting married that afternoon.”

She studied him with her odd colored eyes.

“I missed the wedding. When Laura found out why, she left me.”

That made her frown. “Your fiancée left you because you were shot?”

He pursed his lips. “My fiancée left me because she realized that my job was dangerous and there was no guarantee I’d be coming home unscathed every night.”

“Was your fiancée a stupid woman, Barton?”

“Not particularly so, no.”

“Then it was an excuse.”

He arched a brow in question but didn’t say anything.

Sterling pushed her half-eaten food away. “There are no guarantees in this life, Agent. Florists get shot and killed on their way home and agents for shady government agencies make it to retirement age every damn day. That’s the way of the world.”

“So she should have just ignored the fact that I got shot and missed our wedding because of my job?”

Her eyes locked onto his. “No. She should have come to the hospital, been there when you woke up and had the chaplain marry you. I realize that there’s a part of you that resents me for the fact you aren’t married with a couple of mini-archers running around right now, but maybe that blame needs to be laid elsewhere.”

He didn’t look at her as he processed her words. The truth was she’d been a convenient target for his anger even before he knew who precisely had been responsible for the shooting. And maybe she had a point when she suggested that anger had been misdirected.

She stood and grabbed her barely touched tray of food. “Have a good evening, Agent Barton.”


	5. Chapter 5

The next two weeks were spent with Raven, Clint, and Natasha training together and learning about each other. When they weren’t in the training room or in the field doing exercises, they were eating together or occasionally hanging out in the rec room watching movies. It had been a long time since Raven spent leisure time with anyone and she welcomed the change.

Every day Clint seemed a little more at ease with her, but Raven knew he still hadn’t forgiven her for him missing his wedding. And honestly, she was okay with that. The fact was, she thought he would watch her back on an assignment and that was what mattered. Natasha had complained more than once about how long it was taking her friend to warm up to Raven. Raven, however, had noticed the subtle changes in his temperament and behavior.

This particular day, Raven was perched in the rafters of the training room. One thing she and Hawkeye had in common was their desire to elevate themselves above the action. It was easier to figure out a response if she could see everything going on around her. The three assassins had been training all morning and had taken a break for lunch. Raven wasn’t particularly hungry and had made her way up to her current position after a quick snack and a cup of coffee in her room.

She sat with her head bent forward as she took deep breaths trying to center herself. Fury had come by that morning to evaluate their progress. He told Raven he still didn’t think they were ready to go after Simon. The bastard was going to get away and Fury didn’t give a shit. Why should he? He already had her.

Voices coming in the room had Raven lifting her head and the corner of her mouth curled up as Clint and Natasha walked in together. “She’s not here yet,” Natasha said as she looked around.

Clint shrugged. “She’ll turn up. Besides, it’s kind of nice not having her around for a moment. It gives me a chance to breathe. I mean I know we have to work as a team but I normally don’t even spend this much time with you and I like you. I don’t know what Fury was thinking with this whole forced togetherness thing.”

“Clint,” Natasha chastised but she laughed all the same.

Tears sprang to Raven’s eyes and she quickly swiped them away. A deep breath had her shoving the hurt and irritation down. God, she was an idiot. How long had she been at this? How long had she worked in this job and she still let herself be fooled into thinking she could have more than a professional relationship with someone. Especially someone she’d shot. No, they’d only spent time with her because Fury ordered it.

“You have to admit she’s good, Clint. She’s going to be a great asset in the field.”

He snorted and shook his head as he walked over to the panel to start the training simulation. “Yeah, she’ll be fantastic except I can’t turn my back on her.”

Raven clenched her teeth together, working the muscle in her jaw. This was bullshit. She didn’t want to be here any more than the archer apparently did, but at least she gave it an effort. She genuinely spent time getting to know her two teammates and had grown to like them. Nice to know that time had been wasted. From now on she would come out of her room only to train.

The dummies started their random movements below and Raven watched as Clint and Natasha fought them. They’d been working together on their ground coordination so they could get used to each other’s fighting styles and learn to not hit each other. As she watched the two friends she realized the exercises had been strictly for her benefit. These two didn’t need to train. They knew every move their partner would make and played off each other effortlessly.

Raven dropped the rope she’d pulled up with her when she perched on the rafter. She lowered herself to the ground behind the other two and pulled out her gun as she did so. The round she shot between them pierced the end of one of Barton’s arrows in the bullseye of a far target. The arrow exploded in dramatic fashion giving Raven a small sense of triumph. Barton and Romanoff turned around as Raven holstered her weapon.

Her eyes darted between the two of them before settling on the archer. “I would think you, at least, would have learned to look up by now.”

***

Clint sucked in a breath and watched as Sterling stalked through the room and into the locker room on the far side. Her eyes had been red-rimmed and, if he didn’t know better, he’d think she’d been crying. Shit.

“Nice going, asshole,” Natasha bit out at him.

“How the hell was I supposed to know she was up there eavesdropping?” He gestured toward the rafters with his bow.

“To be fair, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t her intention when she went up there. She was probably clearing her head like you do.” Natasha raked a hand through her hair. “You said some pretty harsh things, Clint.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he bit out at his friend. He clenched his jaw and fisted his hand at his side as he ignored the dummies still moving around them. Nat had it right when she called him an asshole. The truth was, he’d been impressed by the English assassin. Her skills were formidable even without her magic aiding her.

The problem was, his friend knew him too well. If he admitted that he’d come to enjoy the time he spent with Raven outside of training or that he was looking forward to working with her, Natasha would pick up on everything he wasn’t saying. Against his better judgment, he’d quickly come to like the woman. The fact that he might have made her cry was tearing him up inside. Damn it.

“Don’t you think you should fix this?” Natasha gestured with her hands in irritation. He knew she liked Raven, enjoyed having another female around even if she wouldn’t admit it. God, this job fucked them all up.

Anger flared through him. He didn’t know if he could fix this. What if Raven didn’t believe a word he said? He wouldn’t blame her.

“What do you want me to do, Nat?” His voice was louder than necessary though he wasn’t quite yelling. He pulled out an arrow and shot a target. Following that with another and another.

“You could try apologizing.” She had given up all pretense of civility and was yelling at her friend.

“Why should I? She won’t believe me anyway?” He punctuated his words by letting more arrows loose to find their targets.

Nat looked at him for a minute, her brow furrowing. Suddenly, her brows shot up. “You like her.”

What the hell? How did she figure that out? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice had dropped to match her quieter pitch.

“The hell you don’t, Barton. I gave up on you after Laura.” She laughed. “Who would have thought, the Raven and the Hawk?”

“Would you drop it?” He glared at her as he continued to fire arrows. His instincts were up and he trusted the arrows to find their targets without him looking. He was following the trajectory of the dummies and fired based on where they would be when the arrow reached them. “You’ve got this all wrong.”

“Fine. But I don’t think—”

Natasha was cut off by a sharp yell. Clint jerked his head toward the sound to see Raven standing in the doorway of the locker room. She had the open door clutched in her hand and was looking at him with wide eyes. An arrow was lodged in her left shoulder. Clint’s stomach dropped and for a moment he was unable to move as shock coursed through him.

“Ow,” Raven finally said before dropping to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

“I can’t believe you,” Natasha bit out as she paced the hallway.

Clint turned his head to look at her. He was sitting in one of the chairs outside the medical unit with his elbows on his knees and his head resting in his hands. “What?”

“What the hell were you thinking? You shot her, Barton. That is not okay.”

Clint’s eyes widened. “You can’t possibly think I did this on purpose. It was an accident.”

Natasha snorted. “Like I’m going to believe that. You don’t miss. Not like that.”

He sat up straight in his chair and scowled at his friend. “Now wait just a minute here, Nat.”

She snapped around to face him, her expression pinched and angry.

He held up his hands in surrender. “Just forget it.” His stomach churned. If his best friend thought him capable of shooting the English assassin on purpose what would everyone else think? What would Raven think? He raked a hand through his hair. Damn it.

“Agents,” Coulson said as he stepped into the hallway. He looked at Natasha. “Give us a moment.” Nat looked between the two of them for a moment before walking away.

Coulson took the seat next to Clint, twining his fingers together in his lap. “What happened?”

Clint ran a hand down his face. “I was angry. I was arguing with Nat and shooting targets. Sterling came back into the room from the locker room. I had no reason to anticipate that so she got hit with an arrow that was meant for one of the dummies. It stopped when it sensed her, but of course the arrow can’t do that.”

“So, it was an accident?”

Clint hopped to his feet. “Christ. What is wrong with you people? Have I ever given you any reason to believe that I would purposely shoot a colleague?”

Coulson looked at him with a blank expression. “You failed to answer the question, Agent Barton.”

“Yes, it was an accident. Happy?”

The elder agent hummed under his breath and twiddled his thumbs but didn’t say anything as he studied the archer. His eyes darted down the hallway and Clint followed his gaze.

Fury walked down the hall, his coat flaring out behind him. “Coulson, I’ll take over here.”

Coulson just nodded and got up to head off down the hallway. Clint leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. He clenched his teeth as he watched Fury. The man in question stood in front of him, his hands behind his back as he rocked on his feet. Finally, he pinned Clint with his one good eye.

“I understand that you have not been comfortable with Agent Sterling since her arrival. I also understand that you perhaps had some notion of revenge due to her shooting you on a previous occasion. What I don’t understand is why you would possibly think that I or anyone else would believe this was an accident.”

Clint closed his eyes and counted to ten. Everyone was acting as if it was commonplace for him to go around shooting people that pissed him off. Maybe he should start.

***

The medics finished with Raven and told her she could return to her room. Her arm was in a sling to keep the shoulder from moving too much. Fortunately, the damages weren’t too severe. She just needed to give it time and pain meds but she wouldn’t be training for a while.

She stepped out of the room as Fury accused Barton of shooting her intentionally. The archer’s eyes were closed and he said nothing in his defense. She wondered how many times he’d had this same conversation since she’d been brought here. He was a lot of things, but she didn’t believe that he’d injured her deliberately.

“Lay off the archer, Fury. It was my fault, not his.”

Fury arched a brow and turned to face her. “It is unnecessary for you to cover for him through some misplaced sense of guilt, Sterling.”

She laughed at that. “You are operating under the assumption I feel guilt, Fury. Unlikely or I would have had a very short career.” She felt Barton’s gaze on her, but kept her eyes on the director. “I knew the training simulation was still running. I should have used the other door, not walked back into the training area. I let my emotions overrule my sensible judgment.”

He looked at her for a long moment, his gaze darting between her and the archer. Finally, he nodded. “Fair enough, Sterling. Barton, I’m watching you.”

Raven rolled her eyes and headed for the lift. All she wanted to do was get into some comfortable clothes, curl up under a blanket and watch some mindless movie.

“Sterling, wait,” Clint called from behind her. She hesitated for half a second then continued on her way. “Raven, stop.” This time a hand on her upper arm accompanied the words.

She stopped but kept her eyes focused on the floor.

“Look at me, please.”

Her head lifted and her eyes met his. She clenched her teeth together, ignoring the flaring of pain that had nothing to do with the wound in her shoulder.

His eyes studied her. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged her good shoulder. “I know it was an accident, Barton.”

He looked down for a moment then met her eyes again. “I appreciate that. Believe me, you have no idea how much right now, but I’m not just talking about that.”

“It’s fine. No one says we have to like each other to work together. I’m sorry my presence has made you uncomfortable.” She started down the hall again and he fell into step beside her.

He stepped into the lift with her. “Listen, do you want to watch a movie in the lounge or something?”

Raven huffed a laugh. “Thanks, but I think I’d rather keep my own company. You can soothe your guilt some other way.”

“It’s not guilt.”

“Pity then. Whatever it is, you can keep it.” He followed her off the lift when they got to her floor. She started to say something then realized she didn’t know where his room was. This could be his floor as well for all she knew.

He trailed her to her door. She turned around to face him instead of going into her room. Irritation flared through her. What could he possibly want with her?

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “None of it was true.”

“Come again.”

“The things I said to Natasha.” He sighed. “Look, Nat is…well, Nat. She’s my best friend and if she had even an inkling that I liked you she’d never let me hear the end of it.”

Raven’s brows shot up into her hairline. “You like me?”

“Well, I certainly don’t hate you. Though it is a little awkward, beings as you shot me and all. Now, movie?” The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk.

She opened her door and took a step inside the room before turning back to the archer. “Give me twenty minutes to change and I’ll meet you in the lounge. And Clint?” she said stopping him as he turned to walk away. “You’re not the only one that likes someone that shot them.” His eyes grew wide and she smirked before shutting the door in his face.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Raven was yawning before she even finished changing her clothes. It was to be expected given the amount of pain killers she was on, but she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to watch the movie with Clint.

 

By the time she reached the lounge, Clint was already there with beer and a bowl of popcorn. He looked over when he heard her walk in the room and smiled. “What do you want to watch?”

 

She shrugged her good shoulder as she snatched the blanket off the back of the chair and moved over to the couch to sit next to Clint. “Something I don’t have to think about. Explosions would be good.”

 

“Your wish is my command.” He flipped through the choices until he came to _Red._

 

“I love this movie,” Raven said as she tried to fix the blanket with her one good hand. Obviously realizing her predicament, Clint helped her spread it out over her legs.

 

She sipped at her beer, occasionally holding it in her bad hand to get a handful of popcorn. They weren’t even a half hour into the movie before her eyelids started drifting shut.

 

***

Clint had been keeping one eye on Raven, knowing she’d had a long day and was undoubtedly doped up on painkillers. It didn’t take long for her eyes to start drifting shut for longer and longer periods of time.

 

“Hey,” he said softly and she turned to look at him. “You want me to escort you back to your room?”

 

She shook her head. “I don’t really want to be alone right now.” She said it so low, he wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t been listening for her response.

 

He smiled at her. “Then lay down. I’ll get you back to your room later.”

 

She nodded and went to lay with her head on the other end of the couch. He saw the moment she realized she would have to lay on her bad shoulder to lay that way. She sat back up.

 

“I’ve been told I’m pretty comfortable to cuddle with,” he said. He smiled again when her cheeks flushed pink. “Come on,” he added and patted his lap. “I’ll be on my best behavior. Promise.”

 

Finally, she nodded and leaned in his direction. She laid her head on his lap, her hand under her cheek. She sighed and smiled a little as she settled and got comfortable. His eyes continued to move between her and the screen. After a couple of minutes he started to run his fingers through her hair. When she didn’t complain, he continued. She was asleep by the time Marvin got the pig. And he’d joined her, his head leaning against the back of the couch, before the film ended.

***

“Guess you didn’t do it on purpose,” a familiar voice next to his ear had him jerking awake.

 

“What was your first clue?” he said as he looked over at Nat. Her admitting she was wrong was as close as he was going to get to an apology. He ran a hand down his face and blinked his eyes trying to wake up. “What time is it?”

 

“Eleven.” She climbed into a nearby chair and perched herself on the back of it. “How is she doing?”

 

Clint shrugged. “She didn’t make it long before she crashed out. I’m assuming she’s still pretty doped up. You know they always give you the good stuff the first day.”

 

“You need help getting her to her room?”

 

“No. I got it. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon for training. I’m taking the morning off.”

 

Natasha nodded before climbing off the chair and giving him a little wave. “See you tomorrow, Barton.”

 

Clint looked down at the assassin sleeping peacefully with her head in his lap and smiled. He used two fingers to brush the hair off her face. “Wake up, little bird.”

 

“Don’t wanna,” she grumbled.

 

He nudged her gently in the back. “Come on, Sterling. Let’s get you to your bed. It’s got to be more comfortable than this.”

 

She groaned but started to push herself up. He helped brace her and move her to a sitting position. “Sorry I fell asleep on you.”

 

“If I minded, I wouldn’t have offered.” He stood and stretched before holding out a hand to her. She took it and he helped her to her feet, frowning when she wove unsteadily. “All right, that’s not going to work,” he said before scooping her up to carry her bridal style. He made sure her bad shoulder wasn’t the one resting against him.

 

He had been prepared for her to argue or pitch a fit but she surprised him by leaning her head against his chest. “Thanks, archer,” she said with a yawn.

 

“No problem, little bird. Let’s get you to bed.” He carried her down the hall to the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. When they reached her door, he stood her on her feet so she could open the door, but kept a hand wrapped around her waist to keep her steady.

 

He helped her inside and she immediately climbed up on the bed and laid down. He chuckled a little and moved over to at least take off her shoes. “Do you want me to get Nat to help you change?”

 

She shook her head. “Too tired.” She rolled onto her uninjured side and brought her knees up closer to her chest.

 

“Good night, Raven,” Clint said softly after watching her for a moment. He started to back out of the room but her soft voice stopped him.

 

“Clint,” she said and turned slightly so she could see him.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Would you stay, just for a little bit?”

 

He studied her for a moment, surprised she would ask.

 

She must have mistook his hesitation for reluctance because she launched into an explanation. “It’s just that I’m not used to sleeping with my back to the room and the meds have my brain foggy and—”

 

He cut her off by stepping fully into the room and shutting the door. “You don’t have to explain, little bird. I’m just surprised you asked is all. Scoot over a bit.”

 

She moved closer to the wall to make room for him and he slid in behind her after taking off his shoes. He laid a hand on her waist, taking care to not injure her further. A sigh escaped her as she snuggled deeper into the bed.

 

“Go to sleep, Raven. I’ve got you.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

Raven woke slowly in the morning feeling warm and comfortable apart from the throbbing in her shoulder. It took a moment to realize someone was spooning with her, their arm around her waist pulling her tightly against them. She smiled as she recalled the events of the evening before.

The rhythm of Clint’s breathing changed behind her as he woke up. He didn’t make a move to get up, simply tugging her more tightly against him.

Raven sighed in contentment then grimaced as a twinge pierced her shoulder. “As much as I would like to stay like this all day, Barton, I need coffee and pain killers.”

“And food,” he added as he swung his legs off the bed to let her up. “You shouldn’t be taking that stuff on an empty stomach.”

She turned and arched a brow at him. “If I drink coffee it won’t be empty, now will it.”

He raked a hand through his hair and frowned at her. “I’ll make you a deal, little bird. You agree to eat breakfast and I’ll get you out of here. There’s a diner not too far that has the best breakfast in the city.”

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Clint helped her sit on the edge of the bed when he saw her struggling.

“I’m going to go clean up and change,” the archer said and headed for the door.

“Hey, Clint,” she said stopping him. “Could you ask Nat to come give me a hand?”

“Sure thing, princess.”

***

Clint leaned against the wall in the hallway outside Raven’s room. His head was down and his arms were crossed over his chest as he waited. Finally, the door opened and Nat came out followed closely by the English assassin. His eyes ran over her and the corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile.

Even injured wearing a sling, she looked stunning. She was dressed simply in a pair of jeans, black top and boots and Clint loved it. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun and she gave him a shy smile. Nat patted his shoulder drawing his attention. “Take the day off, Barton. You both need it. It won’t kill us to miss a day training.”

A thrill that he wouldn’t admit to went through him at the thought he didn’t have to rush his time with Raven. Not today, anyway.  

He offered Raven his arm and led her outside to one of the SHIELD cars. Once they reached the diner he led her to a booth in the back. They sat on the same side so both of their backs were to the wall. The waitress took their orders and Raven soon had her good hand wrapped around a cup of black coffee.

“Thanks for this,” Raven said while they waited for their food.

He gave her a little smile. “Seems the least I could do after shooting you and all.”

She gave him a genuine smile and laughed, her eyes twinkling with her mirth. “Well, I guess I owe you a meal as well then, archer.”

“I suppose you do.” They leaned back as the waitress delivered their food. After they’d taken several bites, Clint looked at her. “So, who’s Simon?”

Raven swallowed hard and turned to him with wide eyes. “What?”

He sipped at his coffee. “Simon. Who is he? You must want him pretty bad to join just for a chance at him.”

She pursed her lips as she thought. “I’ve been searching for Simon for years. He tried to kill me. Almost succeeded once. I’d like to pay him back for that.”

Her answer surprised him but he didn’t know why it should come as a shock that someone had tried to kill her in the past given her career choice. “You make it sound like he’s tried more than once.”

“He has. He’s nothing if not a persistent bastard. Bloody wanker.”

“So, who is he? A former target? A client? Ex?”

“My brother.”

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “Your brother?”

She made a sound of agreement and finished off her coffee.

He hesitated before asking his next question, unsure if he should bring it up or not. “Why is your brother trying to kill you?”

She laughed though there was no humor in it. “I’m a freak, Agent Barton. A stain on a prestigious family bloodline filled with criminals and arseholes. At least none of them had the audacity to be a mutant.” Her fingers tapping on the table were the only indication of her nerves. “I was eleven when I discovered my powers while skipping stones on a pond. Two years later my brother found out what I was and tried to drown me in that same pond. Needless to say, we haven’t had the best relationship since then.”

“I understand why you would want to eliminate him, but I’m surprised Fury is offering any assistance, even if it did get you to join.”

Her smile was bitter. “I want Simon for my own reasons, but he has followed in the family footsteps. The last time I had a bead on him he was running guns for the gangs and cartels. I’m not the only one that wants my brother dead. Unfortunately, no one has succeeded as of yet.”

Clint signaled for the waitress to bring their check. “I take it keeping under the radar is a family trait, then?”

“You could say that. Breakfast was great. Thank you,” she said, steering the conversation back to more neutral territory.

Clint threw enough money on the table to cover the check and the tip. He helped her up from the table and offered her his elbow again. Instead of returning to the car, they spent the day wandering through the city and talking.

***

Natasha was sitting on Raven’s bed flipping through a magazine when she got back. She looked between the redhead and her door. There was no point in asking Black Widow how she got in here. She wouldn’t tell anyway. Good assassins never give away their secrets.

“Hello, Natasha,” Raven said, closing the door behind her as she stepped into the room.

The redhead finished looking at the page she was on before tossing the magazine away and smiling at Raven. “So, how was your date?”

Her cheeks heated and she turned so her back was to the other assassin. “It wasn’t a date.”

Natasha snorted. “Yes, it was. So, how was it?”

Raven rolled her eyes before turning back to her new friend. “Why don’t you ask Barton?”

She stood from the bed. “Oh, I intend to, but I wanted to know what you thought first so I can give him shit about it.”

Raven sighed. “Fine. My platonic outing with Agent Barton was extremely pleasant. Happy now?”

She just smirked and walked out the door without another word. Raven shook her head before walking over and taking the pain meds she was overdue for. The sling had been rubbing on her neck all day irritating the piss out of her and she slid it off with a sigh of relief. She climbed onto the bed and laid on her back and stared at the ceiling, rerunning the events from the day through her mind.

Clint had been an absolute gentleman all day. Her blush rose again as she thought about it. She grunted at herself in irritation. What was she, some bubbly schoolgirl with a crush? She needed to get her head together. It didn’t matter how cute Hawkeye was, she was here for a reason and he wasn’t it.

 


	9. Chapter 9

Two weeks passed with Raven watching Clint and Natasha train. She’d lost the sling and was using the arm more than the doctors wanted her to, but she was impatient to get back to work. She didn’t like being sidelined. When they weren’t occupied with work, Raven and Clint spent all their free time together. Mostly watching movies but there had been a couple more trips to the diner and even a dinner or two.

Raven sighed as she watched him move across the floor as he sparred with Nat. They moved with a fluid grace, like dance partners at a ball. Honestly, they had no business sparring together as they knew each other too well. There were no surprises in their movements. It was nearing the end of the session when Fury appeared in the room like a menacing shadow. Raven narrowed her eyes at him. The man unsettled her. He was always up to something.

He looked at her then flicked his gaze to the sparring ring. “I want to see you all in the debriefing room in ten minutes.” With that he turned and left.

Shaking her head as she stood, she moved to the edge of the sparring ring. “The great and mighty Fury would like to see us in ten,” she announced.

The other two assassins nodded that they heard her and stepped away from each other. Clint glanced at her. “You waiting for us?”

“Yeah, I’ll wait,” she gestured to the bench and went over to sit. She had no interest in being in Fury’s presence by herself.

After Clint and Natasha took a minute to clean up, the three of them walked together to the debriefing room. Fury and Coulson were waiting for them. Fury ignored them all, looking at the file in front of him but Coulson’s eyes found her. She could tell he knew something and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like it.

They had been sitting for several minutes before Clint cleared his throat. Fury closed the file and looked up as he laced his fingers together in front of him. “Our intelligence briefing this morning indicated that Simon Sterling is preparing to move. We have to go in now or we risk losing his location again.”

Raven went still, her eyes locked on Fury. He wouldn’t.

“Barton and Romanoff will leave at 1900 hours to intercept and capture the target. If that is not possible, you will eliminate him,” he said. He would. Son of a bitch.

“What about Agent Sterling?” Natasha spoke up.

His eye darted to her. “Sterling has not been cleared for duty at this time. She will remain behind.”

Raven raked a hand through her hair. “You have got to be bloody kidding me.”

“Do we have a problem, agent?”

“Damn right we do,” Clint answered for her. “You got her on board by promising she could go after him. And now you green light the operation when she’s sidelined.”

Raven put her hand on Clint’s arm and squeezed, both as a thank you and to keep him from saying anything else. “As irritated as I am by that, that’s not the biggest issue here. I know Simon better than anyone. I know his tricks and his routines. Sending them in without me will result in a bloody cock up.”

“You’ll excuse me if I think you may be overstating your importance, Sterling. Somehow I don’t think you’re the best one to be evaluating whether this mission should proceed or not.”

She literally bit down on her tongue to keep from saying something that would get her locked up. “At least put me on coms. Let me help by being the voice in their ear,” she all but begged. As much as she wanted to be the one to take Simon down, it was more important to keep her friends alive.

Fury placed his fisted hands on the table and pushed himself up from his chair. “To do that you would have to be on the jet and you aren’t getting anywhere near this assignment, Sterling. I don’t like to repeat myself.” He finally tore his eye from her and looked at the others in the room. “You are all dismissed. And, Sterling? You are to confine yourself to quarters until further notice.”

Angry tears came to Raven’s eyes as she stared at the table in front of her. Not only was she not permitted to go on the only assignment she cared about, she was being sent to her room like an unruly child. And despite whatever Fury thought about what she had to say, the fact remained that her friends would be in greater danger because she wasn’t there to help. Wanker.

A hand fell on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Raven,” Nat said before leaving the room.

Coulson stepped away from his spot by the wall. “I’ll give you two a moment. I’ve been ordered to escort you to your room so I’ll be waiting in the hall.”

Once he shut the door behind him, her chair spun around to face her favorite archer. “You okay, little bird?”

She looked toward the ceiling, trying to get her emotions under control and felt a tear roll down her cheek. Hastily she wiped it away and nodded once. “You need to listen to me, Clint. Simon’s guards will be on what appears to be a random cycle. Watch long enough and you’ll find the pattern. Any room that is not guarded is a trap. If it seems too easy, that’s because it is. Do not underestimate my brother.”

He gripped her hands in his. “We’ll be fine. I’ll come find you as soon as we get back.”

She nodded but her worry still ate away at her. Clint tugged at her hands and pulled her into his lap. He looped his arms around her waist to keep her in place. He buried his head in her neck. “You’ve ruined me, little bird. I was perfectly happy in my solitary existence until you showed up.”

“Not going to apologize for that, Barton.” She laid her hand against the side of his face. The motion had him lifting his head. They looked at each other for a long moment before she dipped her head and captured his lips with hers. “Take care of yourself, archer,” she said, her lips brushing against his as she spoke.

She excused herself after that knowing if she didn’t she would cling to him until he left. He had a mission to prepare for and didn’t need her messing with his head while he did. Coulson gave her a small smile when she stepped into the hall and led her to her room.

Her mind was elsewhere so she didn’t bother with the pretense of conversation. Coulson grasped her wrist as she went to step into the room. “I’ll be locking you in. Someone will bring you dinner.” He paused for a moment, then added, “I’ll do my best to make sure they’re okay, Raven.”

“I appreciate that.”

His hand slipped down to hers and she felt a small piece of paper. She curled her palm around it and frowned at him. His only response was to glance quickly at one of the cameras that lined the hall. She gave him a small nod and went into her room. The door shut behind her with a hollow sound.

She unfolded the paper in her hand to see Coulson’s now familiar scrawl. _Will text updates as able. Be ready if we need help._

Fury may have been an ass but Coulson more than made up for it. Grasping her phone in her hand, she sat and waited.


	10. Chapter 10

Raven sat cross-legged on her bed picking at a bowl of popcorn that had been delivered to her half an hour ago and staring at the phone laying in front of her. So far, she’d only received one text telling her that they were in the air.

_On the ground._

Her foot twitched and she couldn’t seem to get it to stop. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture the operation step-by-step and move-by-move. The first thing, obviously, was getting into Simon’s compound. Her eyes shot open as information she had obtained a year or so ago came back to her. Her brother had purchased a large quantity of thermal mines but there was no indication that he had redistributed them. She could only assume he kept them for himself. Grabbing her phone, she began typing frantically.

Rather than exploding like a regular mine, these used an intense thermal charge to disintegrate whoever stepped on them. The advantage being less property damage, and no explosion to warn others on the property. They should have their own heat signatures though. That meant Clint and Natasha would be able to navigate with infrared glasses. After she sent the message she bit her lip and waited for Coulson’s response.

_Message relayed and received. Good catch._

She sighed in relief. After that, each text message she got made her feel a little more at ease. Her friends were doing their job and thus far hadn’t run into any issues they couldn’t overcome.

_Large guard presence on property. Evaded or eliminated._

_Inside main building. Security system overridden. Laser grids and cameras shut down._

_Target located. Agents moving in._

_False locate. Agency presence still undetected. Attempting to reestablish location._

Then there was nothing. Five. Ten. Fifteen minutes passed with no update. Raven fidgeted resisting the urge to text Coulson. She didn’t want to distract him. It was over an hour later when there was a knock on her door. It swung open without her responding and she stared at her visitor with wide eyes.

Agent Coulson stood in the hall outside her door in tactical gear. “Suit up, Agent Sterling. And make it fast. We’ve got less than six minutes before they figure out what I did to the cameras.”

She hopped up from the bed, already dressed in her field uniform just in case she was needed. With her good hand, she grabbed the duffle of weapons she’d prepared as well. She could equip them on the plane. “Let’s go,” she said as she stepped past him.

“That was certainly fast,” he said and headed toward the hangar. She followed closely behind.

“Is it just us?” she asked as they stepped into the back of a jet.

“And the pilot. Friend of mine.” He strode to the front of the plane. “Wheels up, May. Get us out of here.”

Raven stepped up behind him to watch out the window while they took off. The pilot, a severe looking Oriental woman, nodded at her in greeting. Once they were in the air and a good distance away, Raven went back to see about her weapons. Coulson followed.

“What happened?” she asked as she strapped on her thigh holsters and ammunition belt.

Coulson shook his head. “We’re not entirely sure. We lost contact. Indicators were that their comm units were destroyed.”

“Shit.” That wasn’t a hell of a lot of info. What if they were dead? No, she couldn’t think that way. Not only were they good at their jobs, it wasn’t like her brother to kill them so quickly. He’d want information first. And if he figured out they were SHIELD, he’d want a lot of information. “What’s the plan?”

“That’s up to you, Agent. You know him better than anyone. What do we do?”

“I might have an idea.”

***

As expected, her brother had taken precautions against her. The wall surrounding the property was ten feet high. The land around the compound was barren. No trees, no buildings. Nowhere for her to get a vantage point from. But it didn’t matter to her as she intended to walk through the front door.

“This is a horrible plan,” Coulson said in her ear as she walked toward the front gate. “I am completely opposed to this plan.”

“I believe you already mentioned that. Several times.” She threw the ball of plastic explosives in her hand, using her powers to make sure it hit and stuck to the gate. She pressed the button on the detonator in her other hand. The gates blew open in a fiery explosion. She tossed the detonator to the side and pulled her guns from their holsters. “Too late now.”

She smiled as men swarmed toward her. One by one she put them down, stopping only when twenty men came through the front door with machine guns in hand. She held her hands up showing her fingers were off the triggers before bending over and putting the guns on the ground. Sweeping up a handful of gravel, she tossed it in their direction using her power to make it fast and painful. Another handful of debris pulled from her pocket followed quickly. There were too many pieces to control them completely but she could push them, give them power they’d never have otherwise.

Men yelped in pain as pieces embedded in them and the building behind them.

“Enough!” a familiar voice yelled and she straightened. Her eyes were on Simon as he stepped from the house. He looked exactly the same as the last time she’d seen him. “What are you doing here, Raven?”

“You took something that doesn’t belong to you. I’m here to get it back.”

His eyes narrowed as he thought. Suddenly a lopsided smile covered his face. “Since when do you work with anyone? You’ve always been by yourself.”

She hummed in agreement. “I have trust issues. I wonder whose fault that is?”

He spread his hands in faux innocence and signaled to someone behind him. Nat and Clint were shoved forward. Their hands were tied behind their backs and they had gags in their mouths. Both of them fell to their knees and looked around in confusion, their eyes widening when they fell on her. Clint shook his head no as if to tell her not to do this. _A little late for that, archer,_ she thought.

Raven lifted her chin and glared at her brother. She did her best to keep her eyes away from her friends, needing to focus on the plan. “Let them go, Simon.”

“And why would I do that, sister dear?” He sneered.

“You can have me,” Raven answered. She started to take small steps in his direction. Not fast enough to alarm him, but she needed to get closer to Nat and Clint.

“Excuse me?”

“Let them go and I’ll give myself up. Willingly. No resistance. Sister’s honor.”

He laughed and pulled a gun. His smile fell as he pressed the gun to the back of Clint’s head. Raven clenched her teeth together to keep from shouting out. “Why should I do that when I can simply kill them both and have you taken into custody?”

She looked down for a moment then back to him. “And how many do you think I would take out in the process?”

“You act as if I care. They’re hired help, Raven. They’re paid to do what I tell them even if they die in the process.”

“Now,” she said, giving Coulson the signal.

Simon frowned at her and shifted the gun from Clint to her. She resisted the urge to smile, not wanting to let him know he’d done exactly as she wanted.

“But your readings show you within—” Coulson spoke in her ear and she said, “now,” again, cutting him off.

He sighed and began to count down. “Three. Two. One.”

As he said ‘one’, several things happened at once. Simon fired the gun, missing Raven as she dived for her friends, pushing them to the ground and covering them as much as she was able. Then came the explosions. The handful of debris from her pocket that she’d thrown and embedded in the house, and some of the men, were actually microexplosives. Coulson was detonating them from the jet.

Pieces of the building fell around them and men screamed. As the explosions ended, Raven lifted her head, assessing the threat level before uncovering Nat and Clint. Her eyes darted around but she couldn’t see anything through the cloud of dust and debris that hung in the air. She coughed as she got a lungful of it.

Suddenly, a hand wrapped itself in her hair and jerked her to her feet. She struggled, stopping when the cool barrel of a gun was pressed to her temple and Simon stepped into her view.

 


	11. Chapter 11

“Oh, Raven. I am so disappointed in you. All this time and you still fail to kill me. What would father say?” 

Raven kept her hands up as her brother drug her toward another building. Last she’d seen Clint and Nat they were still laying on the ground tied up. She glanced at Simon. “I’m pretty sure he’d tell you to put the gun away. I was always his favorite.”

He drew back the hand that held the gun and hit her in the cheek with it. Pain flared from the wound but she clenched her teeth together to keep from crying out. “Perhaps when we were children. Once we found out what you were, he was as disgusted by your existence as I am.” 

A little jolt of pain went through her with his words but she hid it well. She’d had years of practice. “You should have let me go, Simon. I would have taken my friends and left. They’ll come after you now.” 

He laughed and shoved her into the building, pulling the door shut behind them and leaving them in the dark. “No one cares about you, Raven. No one will come for you.” 

“God, you really are a bloody wanker, aren’t you?” 

He flipped on a light then pushed her against the nearest wall. He pointed the gun at her. “Sit.”

She slid down the wall and sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. He’d probably just shoot her in the head, but she could at least make it more difficult for him to hit the rest of her vital organs. He pulled out his phone and typed a message. A few moments later he smiled, obviously having gotten the answer he wanted.

“Well, our ride is on the way. We just need to be patient.”

She scowled. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

He tilted his head back as he laughed. “As if you have a choice, sister.”

“You’ve been trying to kill me for over a decade, Simon. Just do it already.” She didn’t even want to guess at what reason he might have for taking her with him. And she sure as hell didn’t want to find out.

“As if I would make it that easy.”

A headache started to throb behind her eyes and she squeezed them shut. After a moment, she looked at him once more. “What do you want with me?”

“You being a freak didn’t bother father nearly as much as the fact you never used your gift to aid us. Think of the vengeance you could have wrought on our enemies. But no, you turned your back on us, on your family.” He started pacing and she followed his movement carefully, looking for an opening to take him down so she could escape.

“So, you aren’t pissed I’m a mutant, you’re pissed I didn’t become your weapon.” Now that he said it, it was so obvious. It may have been hate when they were children but then it became about her not allowing them to use her.

He raked a hand through his hair as he continued to pace, paying less and less attention to her. She shifted her legs around so she could get to her feet quickly. “You were never like the rest of us. You were soft.”

Raven pushed herself forward, wrapping her arms around his legs to bring him down. She succeeded but not before he managed to get off a shot. Fire flared through her from her side where the bullet hit. She rolled away from him, gripping the wound.

Simon got to his feet faster than she’d thought possible and kicked her angrily in her side. She screamed out in pain and glared up at him. “See? Soft. And then you could do something amazing. Something that we could use to take over cities and you use it to skip rocks.” He was yelling by the end.

She started to laugh though it was more groans than anything when the motion jostled her wound again. “You were jealous. You arsehole.”

His face burned red as he came to stand over her, gun in hand and pointed at her head. Perhaps, laughing at him wasn’t the best idea she admitted to herself. “How dare you? How dare you think—”

His words were cut off as the sound of a gunshot echoed through the building and a bullet went right through the center of his head. She watched as he fell to the ground, thankfully missing her. Her eyes darted from the corpse to the open door behind him. Clint stood in the doorway, gun in his hand.

***

Clint had every intention of arresting Simon and saving Raven. That was until he followed the sound of a gunshot to a building and opened the door to find the bastard standing over Raven while she laid on the ground.

 “Did you learn nothing in hero school, Hawkeye? You’re supposed to let the villain finish his monologue before you shoot him.”

Relief flooded through him with the sound of her voice and he ran over to kneel beside her. “I wasn’t sure…I mean…” he trailed off as she pressed her fingers to his lips.

“I’m fine, archer. Thanks for the rescue.”

He grinned. “I was just returning the favor.” He put the gun on the floor to help her into a sitting position. She let out a little cry and he froze. “What is it, little bird?”

She lifted the edge of her top to reveal the wound in her side. Clint grimaced. The location it was in meant it probably hadn’t hit anything major, but it was bleeding profusely. “Son of a bitch,” he bit out.

“Where’s Tasha?” Raven asked. “We need to get back to the jet. Coulson probably thinks I blew everyone up.”

He wasn’t surprised that Coulson was there as well. “Speaking of that, how did you blow the building?”

She grinned as he helped her to her feet and kept a steadying hand on her elbow. “Micro explosives.”

He smiled as he shook his head. He’d ask more questions about that later. Raven took a few steps across the floor, grimacing with every movement. “Here,” he said and handed her the gun before sweeping her up in his arms.

Raven arched a brow but didn’t say anything about the action. As they stepped out of the building, they saw Natasha trotting in their direction.

“There you are. Let’s go. I managed to get ahold of Coulson. He says they’ve got incoming on radar.”

“Yeah, Simon called for a ride. They probably won’t be happy to find he no longer requires it.”

Natasha looked between the two of them for a moment then shook her head. The distinct sounds of a helicopter filled the air. “Tell me later.”

She turned, heading across the grounds. Clint followed closely behind. The jet had just come into view when two men dropped onto the ground in front of them. They released the ropes they’d used to rappel to the ground and trained their weapons on the trio in front of them.

“Raven, long time no see, little one. Where is your brother?” the larger of the two men asked in a thick Russian accent. Sunglasses hid his eyes, keeping Clint from getting a read on him.

“Hello, Ivan. Simon no longer requires your services.”

The man pursed his lips and looked at the ground. After a moment, he glanced back up at them. “And you? Do you require them?”

Raven went utterly still. “Are you saying…” her voice trailed off.

Ivan shrugged. “You’re the only one left. It is all yours now.”

“Holy shit,” she breathed as she went pale and began to tremble.

“What is it, bird? What’s wrong?” Clint asked, his worry evident in his tone.

After letting out a calming breath, she turned her head to look at him. “I believe I just inherited a criminal empire.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little tie up chapter. This is the first story in a series of interconnected MCU stories. Raven and Clint return in Loki's story Salvation.

It took less than three months for SHIELD to take out all of Simon Sterling’s known associates, with Raven’s help of course. She’d negotiated reduced sentences for those men of her father’s that had always been kind to her. There weren’t many.

After that, Natasha, Clint and Raven had been sent on a mission in Budapest. They had returned looking shaken but mostly unharmed. No one had been able to get them to talk about what happened. Not even Coulson.

Currently Clint sat on the edge of the roof of an apartment building watching the world pass below him. He didn’t even glance to the side when someone sat beside him. After a moment, something nudged his ribs and he turned to Raven with an arched brow.

She held out half a sandwich for him. “Eat.”

His gaze darted between her and the sandwich several times before he took it from her with a nod of thanks.

“What’s going on, archer?”

“Who says anything’s up, bird?”

She laughed, the sound bringing a smile to his lips. “You do. You only come up here when you’re thinking too hard about something. Now what is it?”

“Fury is sending me to some facility to play babysitter to a bunch scientists. I ship out next week.”

“So, are you upset about having to play babysitter or is it something else?”

“Oh, come on, Raven. You know exactly what the problem is.” He pushed himself to his feet and walked across the roof. Coming to a stop, he stood with his hands on his hips and his back turned to her.

It didn’t take long for a pair of arms to wrap around his torso and pull him back against her. “Are you going to miss me, archer?” Her voice was little more than a whisper in his ear. The feel of her lips brushing against his ear drove him nearly insane with want.

He spun with a growl and pulled her against him. One hand cradled her head while he captured her lips with his. He put all the frustration, want, need and love he felt for the woman in his arms into that kiss. She returned it with equal fervor. When they finally broke away, she laid her head on his chest, nestling against him.

“I love you, Agent Barton.”

“And I love you, Agent Sterling.”

She tilted her head back and smiled up at him. “I guess it’s a good thing that I’m currently the golden child at SHIELD then, isn’t it?”

He frowned. “What are you talking about, bird?”

“I managed to convince Nick Fury, with very little effort might I add, that the perfect assignment for me would be to assist his best archer babysitting a bunch of scientists.”

A smile covered his face when he realized she wasn’t joking.

“How did you manage to do that? No, wait. Don’t tell me. I want to be able to claim ignorance later on.”

She giggled and buried her head back against his chest. “I threatened to quit and follow you anyway. Apparently, I was convincing.”

He rested his chin on her head and hummed in agreement. “It probably hadn’t hurt any that I told him months ago that if you left, I was going with you.”

She laughed again. “I guess that settles it then, archer. We’re stuck with each other.”

He tightened his arms around her and thought of the box nestled in the back of his nightstand. “I think I can live with that, little bird.”


End file.
